Early Triassic super-greenhouse climate driven by vegetation collapse

2025/07/02 by Zhen Xu, Jianxin Yu, Hongfu Yin +14 · 2 voices · 16 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Atmospheric sciences #Biogeochemical cycle #Carbon cycle #Carbon dioxide #Carbon sequestration #Cenozoic #Climate change #Earth science #Ecology #Ecosystem #Environmental science #Extinction (optical mineralogy) #Extinction event #Geography #Geological and Geochemical Analysis #Geological and Geophysical Studies #Geology #Global warming #Greenhouse gas #Oceanography #Paleontology #Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils #Permian #Phanerozoic #Physical geography #Structural basin #Tectonics #Vegetation (pathology) #Volcanism #Volcano

paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60396-y

published in Nature Communications 16(1), 5400 (Nature Portfolio)

openalex created_date 2025/07/02 · openalex publication_date 2025/07/02 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23

Abstract

Abstract The Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME), the most severe crisis of the Phanerozoic, has been attributed to intense global warming triggered by Siberian Traps volcanism. However, it remains unclear why super-greenhouse conditions persisted for around five million years after the volcanic episode, with one possibility being that the slow recovery of plants limited carbon sequestration. Here we use fossil occurrences and lithological indicators of climate to reconstruct spatio-temporal maps of plant productivity changes through the PTME and employ climate-biogeochemical modelling to investigate the Early Triassic super-greenhouse. Our reconstructions show that terrestrial vegetation loss during the PTME, especially in tropical regions, resulted in an Earth system with low levels of organic carbon sequestration and restricted chemical weathering, resulting in prolonged high CO 2 levels. These results support the idea that thresholds exist in the climate-carbon system whereby warming can be amplified by vegetation collapse.

Citations

• A new model for atmospheric oxygen over Phanerozoic time
• GEOCARB II; a revised model of atmospheric CO 2 over Phanerozoic time
• Ecological disturbance in tropical peatlands prior to marine Permian-Triassic mass extinction
• Atmospheric Lifetime of Fossil Fuel Carbon Dioxide
• Strontium Isotope Stratigraphy: LOWESS Version 3: Best Fit to the Marine Sr‐Isotope Curve for 0–509 Ma and Accompanying Look‐up Table for Deriving Numerical Age

Cited by

• Evolutionary stasis in synapsid encephalization during the end-permian mass extinction
• Charcoalified wood remains from the Madygen Fossil-Lagerstätte (SW Kyrgyzstan): evidence of wildfire in the Triassic (Ladinian–Carnian) mid-northern latitudes
• CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event
• Early evolutionary history of the seed. [europepmc]
• CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event. [europepmc]

Discussions

• The ‘Great Dying’ wiped out 90% of life, then came 5 million years of lethal heat. New fossils explain why [lemmy, 138 points, 10 comments]
• Some fodder for the doomers, unfortunate of course, but no reason not to look at the information. Single study so not yet canon, but (and this is understated) "thresholds exist in the climate-carbon [bsky, 3 points, 1 comments]

Related

• CAM photosynthesis may have conferred an advantage during the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event
• Paleoclimate-induced stress on polar forested ecosystems prior to the Permian–Triassic mass extinction
• Severest crisis overlooked—Worst disruption of terrestrial environments postdates the Permian–Triassic mass extinction
• Comparison between plant fossil assemblages and simulated biomes across the Permian-Triassic Boundary
• Biogeographic climate sensitivity controls Earth system response to large igneous province carbon degassing